CULTURE VULTURE: Jamaican lawyer outshines the world + Bertram chronicles Norman Manley + UWI launches McIntyre/Nettleford scholarship fund

BRAIN POWER: Jo-Anne Jackson Stephens recently added ‘world beater’ to her long list of accomplishments. A young Jamaican attorney who now lives and works in Cayman, Stephens has been honoured with the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Excellence Award for achieving the highest marks in the world in the Company Law and Practice Examination. “I was competing with very smart people from across the world, including the UK, Europe and the Caribbean,” says the Norman Manley Law School alum (Class of 2006) and Oxford University graduate (Class of 2012), who has been employed to the Cayman-based firm Higgs & Johnson since October 2015. “It demonstrates that hard work and dedication are truly keys to success.” 

FOUNDING FATHER: If there’s one thing you can say for Jamaica’s literary culture it’s that there’s no shortage of publications that celebrate the lives and legacies of our most distinguished nation-builders. Now comes N.W. Manley and the Making of Modern Jamaica (Arawak Publications), Arnold Bertram’s deeply researched homage to the National Hero and PNP patriarch, recently launched at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston. While PNP stalwart Dr. Peter Phillips hails the book as a much-welcomed salute to a man who was “born to create history”, former Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, yet another PNP giant, says the informative book was long in the making but certainly worth the wait. Order your copy HERE.

HIGHER LEARNING: “The Fund recognizes the importance of making an educational experience accessible to our most promising young scholars. This scholarship also celebrates the history of connectedness between Oxford and UWI.” Those were sentiments expressed by UWI Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles in reference to the university’s newly established McIntyre/Nettleford Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship Fund. Named in honour of two Caribbean legends of academia (Rex Nettleford, above, and Sir Alister McIntyre), the scholarship will cover all costs for an undergrad degree at UWI, benefitting high-achieving youth from disenfranchised backgrounds.

Tweet



Follow @TALLAWAHezine